Taking the Roads Less Travelled

When we booked our trip to Europe, we knew we would be renting a rental car, but we didn't quite know what we would be getting into by doing that. Even though time spent in that tiny, must-have-been-running-on-2-cylinders car were some of the most stressful and worrysome times of the trip, I wouldn't have had it any other way. And no, it wasn't just because you could go 150 mph on the autobahn - although Ian had some fun with that.

Then why?

Well maybe some of these photos will help explain. 

Because if you take a trip off the beaten autobahn, you see things like this everywhere you look.

Everything so serene.

  

And these places weren't hard to find.

Not to mention, some of the little towns were really cool.

As we travelled along towards the Czech Republic, we saw signs on the side of the highway occasionally pointing us to an area of interest... Museums, historical sites, parks... CASTLES.

Hmm, oh there's a castle coming up... and there's another one over there. No big deal.

WHAT?! Awesome! So we had to go check one out. This one coming up is called Meissen Castle located in, you guessed it, the tiny town of Mesisen. By the way, "castle" in German is "schloss." It's a good one to know. ;-)

So we took about a 15 mile detour, and at first we were scared we weren't going to be able to find it, but then we rounded the top of a hill and there it was!

 Meissen Castle.

 And the surrounding view of the countryside and the town of Meisen wasn't bad either...

And as if a gorgeous castle nestled in the German countryside wasn't breathtaking enough, the spot we happened to end at was a beautiful sprawling vineyard - complete with a little old lady tending to it.

So grateful for life's "detours."

From this point on we have entered the Czech Republic. Equally as beautiful.

We followed directions our printed-out Google maps gave us - we had no GPS. That is one of the biggest things I could recommend to someone that chooses to drive in Europe - bring a GPS that works internationally! We went on some crazy roads through the Czech Republic, and it's only by the grace of God we found our hotel in Prague... Google maps had us drive through some little hillside Czech towns that looked like they had been around since the 1400's (and the roads looked like they had not been updated since then, either).

Regardless, we got to where we needed to go, but even more importantly - we enjoyed the adventure along the way.

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. -Robert Frost